At UConn Health, Breast Cancer Journey is Handled with Care

Some people need no urging to get medical screenings. These are the people who see their dentist twice a year like clockwork, who make that annual preventive care appointment, and who don’t put off a colonoscopy.

But most people are not like that. Even a mammogram can be a tough sell. Getting your breasts squeezed between two cold plates and X-rayed while wearing an ill-fitting gown is nobody’s idea of a good time. And when a patient has already found a suspicious lump, there’s an extra layer of stress.

The radiologists and staff at UConn Health’s Beekley Imaging Center, part of the Women’s Center, do their best to dispel that stress. Good service and a relaxing atmosphere go a long way toward evoking a spa-like ambience. There’s comfortable seating, private changing rooms, warmed gowns that fit, appointments that start on time – and cookies.

The patients appreciate it.

“I’m always in and out,” one woman says to another as they ride the elevator up to the imaging center. “I stay for the cookies and juice,” says the other. They both laugh. The first woman proclaims, “It’s really nice up there!”

Indeed it is. And if a woman cares to linger over her cookies and juice, she can get her results on the spot.

“One woman, here in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, always reports the same symptoms. Lumps, terrible breast pain. She wants our attention. She is worried about breast cancer,” says Dr. Alex Merkulov, head of women’s imaging and a radiologist in the Imaging Center. “Our job is to remind her of the prior years and assure her that everything is OK this time, too. We treat people the way we would want to be treated.”

Merkulov is intensely attentive when you talk to him, and although his phone dings constantly, he gives you the feeling that all his focus is on you. However much time you need. He says working with each patient “is a personal relationship.” And he means it. Read on.

UConn medical oncologist Dr. Susan Tannenbaum initiated the multidisciplinary focus of the breast program, connecting patient care to research and bringing accreditation through the American College of Surgeons, before handing the reins to surgeon Dr. Christina Stevenson. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

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